Vaishnavism is the worship and acceptance of Vishnu and (Sanskrit: “The Pervader” or “The Immanent”) or one of his various incarnations as the supreme manifestation of the divine. During a long and complex development, many Vaishnava groups emerged with differing beliefs and aims. Some of the major Vaishnava groups include the Shrivaishnavas (also known as Vishishtadvaitins) and Dvaitins (philosophical or religious dualistsMadhvas (also known as Dvaitins) of South India, ; the followers of the teachings of Vallabha in western India, ; and several Vaishnava groups in Bengal in eastern India, who follow teachings derived from those of the saint Caitanya. Most Vaishnava believers, however, draw from various traditions and blend worship of Vishnu with local practices.

In the Vedas and Brahmanas, Vishnu is the god of far-extending motion and pervasiveness who, for humans in distress, penetrates and traverses the entire cosmos to make their existence possible. All beings are said to dwell in his three strides or footsteps (trivikrama): his highest step, or abode, is beyond mortal ken in the realm of heaven. Vishnu is also the god of the pillar of the universe and is identified with the sacrifice. He imparts his all-pervading power to the sacrificer who imitates his strides and identifies himself with the god, thus conquering the universe and attaining “the goal, the safe foundation, the highest light” (Shatapatha Brahmana).

In the centuries before the Common Era, Vishnu became the Ishvara (immanent supreme deity) of his worshipers, fusing with the Purusha-Prajapati figure; with Narayana, whose cult worship of whom discloses a prominent influence of ascetics; with Krishna, whom the Bhagavadgita identified with Vishnu as Doomsdayin many forms; and with Vasudeva, who was worshipped by a group known as the Pancharatras.

The extensive mythology attached to Vishnu is largely that of his avatars or incarnations(avatars). Although the this notion of “incarnation” is found elsewhere in Hinduism, it is basic to Vaishnavism. Each of his incarnations, especially Krishna and Rama, has a particular mythology and is the object of devotional religion (bhakti). The classical number of these incarnations is 10, ascending 10—the dashavatara (“ten avatars”)—ascending from theriomorphic (animal form) to fully anthropomorphic manifestations. They are Fish (Matsya), Tortoise (Kurma), Boar (Varaha), Man-Lion (Narasimha), Dwarf (Vamana), Rama-with-the-Ax (Parashurama), King Rama, Krishna, Buddha, and the future incarnation, Kalkin. Moreover, like This list varies, however, according to the text within which it appears and the devotional community that maintains it. For example, some dashavatara lists include Balarama, the brother of Krishna, instead of the Buddha. Moreover, the number of incarnations is not fixed across all texts or traditions; some texts list 24 incarnations of Vishnu. In addition, a particular dashavatara list popularized by the 13th-century poet Jayadeva in his song Gita Govinda names Krishna, not Vishnu, as the supreme deity who incarnates himself 10 times. In Jayadeva’s list the first seven incarnations are the same as those found in other Vaishnava lists. Jayadeva then lists Balarama and Buddha as the eighth and ninth incarnations. One common element in all these lists is Kalkin, who is always the final incarnation.

Like most other Hindu gods, Vishnu has his especial entourage: his wife is Lakshmi, or Shri, the lotus goddess, granter goddess—granter of beautysuccess, wealth, and good luck, who liberation—who came forth from the ocean when gods and demons churned it in order to recover from its depths the ambrosia or elixir of immortality, amrita. At the beginning of the commercial year, special worship is paid to her for success in personal affairs. Vishnu’s mount is the bird Garuda, archenemy of snakes, and in his four hands are his emblemsare : the lotus, conch shell, and his two weapons, the club , discus (as a weapon), and a conch shell, which he carries in his four handsand the discus.

Devotees hold that, in addition to having many avatars, Vishnu also manifests himself in many temples. He may manifest himself within an iconic form (archa avatara) for worship. In many South Indian temples, the regional manifestations of Vishnu have distinct identities and are known by local names (e.g., as Venkateswara in Tirumala-Tirupati and in the Hindu diaspora). Each of these distinct forms has specific attributes and weapons, which are depicted in particular locations or poses. Elaborate treatises on iconography as well as on local custom and practice govern the carving and interpretation of these icons. In many temples in South India and Southeast Asia, Vishnu is depicted as standing, sitting, striding the universe, or reclining. He sometimes reclines on the serpent Ananta (“Without End,” suggesting the deity’s mastery over infinite time). He is frequently displayed in temple carvings and in calendar art with four arms (though occasional depictions provide him with as many as eight), three of which hold his conch shell, discus, and club. Although a few Vaishnava philosophical schools may consider the image in the temple to be a symbol pointing to the supreme being, most devotees perceive it as an actual manifestation of the deity, a form that he takes to make himself accessible to human beings.

Whatever justification the different Vaishnava groups (such as the Shrivaishnavas of South India or the worshipers of Vishnu Vithoba in Maharashtra) offer for their philosophical position, all of them believe in God as a person with distinctive qualities and worship him through his manifestations and representations. God rewards devotion with his grace, through which the votary may be Many schools teach that it is through divine grace that the votary is lifted from transmigration to release. Much of Vaishnava faith is monotheistic, whether the object of adoration be Vishnu Narayana or one of his avatars. Preference for any one of these manifestations is largely a matter of tradition. Thus, most South Indian Shrivaishnavas prefer Vishnu, Rama, or Shri (Vishnu’s consort)worship Vishnu in one of his many local manifestations; the North Indian groups prefer Krishna.

The avatar doctrine accommodated the cults of various divine or heroic figures within a monotheistic framework. The benevolence and beneficial activity of these figures (Rama, Krishna, et al.) is, however, occasionally in doubt. Vishnu often acts deceitfully, selfishly, or helplessly; sometimes he disguises himself as a fascinating young woman in order to trick the asuras (antigods) out of the possession of the newly produced amrita. The narratives are full of the miraculous, but their central figures give the impression of being human—sometimes all too human—characters whose actions and reactions are within the limits of ordinary understanding.

Shaivism

The character and position of the Vedic god Rudra—called Shiva, “the Auspicious One,” when this aspect of his ambivalent nature is emphasized—remain clearly evident in some of the important features of the great god Shiva, who together with Vishnu came to dominate Hinduism. Major groups such as the Lingayats of southern India and the Kashmiri Shaivas contributed the theological principles of Shaivism, and Shaiva worship became a complex amalgam of pan-Indian Shaiva philosophy and local or folk worship.

In the minds of the ancient HinduHindus, Shiva was the divine representative of the uncultivated, dangerous, and unreliable unpredictable aspects of nature. Shiva’s character lent itself to being split into partial manifestations—each said to represent only an aspect of him—as well as to assimilating divine or demonic powers of a similar nature from other deities. Already in the Rigveda, appeals to him for help in case of disaster—of which he might be the originator—were combined with the confirmation of his great power. In the course of the Vedic period, Shiva—originally a ritual and conceptual outsider, yet a mighty god whose benevolent aspects were readily emphasized—gradually gained access to the circle of respectable prominent gods who preside over various spheres of human interest. Many characteristics of the Vedic Prajapati, the creator, ; of Indra, the god of the phallus, rain and of the thunderbolt; and of Agni, the great Vedic god of fire, Agni, have been integrated into the figure of Shiva.

In those circles that produced the Shvetashvatara Upanishad (c. 400 BCE), Shiva rose to the highest rank. Its author proposed a way of escape from samsara, proclaiming Shiva the sole eternal Lord. Rudra-Shiva developed into an ambivalent and many-sided lord and master. His “doubles” or partial many manifestations, however, were active among humankind: as Pashupati (“Lord of Cattle”), he took over the fetters of the Vedic Varuna; as Aghora (“To Whom Nothing Is Horrible”), he showed the uncanny traits of his nature (evil, death, punishment) and also their opposites.

It is Like Vishnu, Shiva is held by devotees to be the entire universe, yet he is worshipped in various manifestations and in hundreds of local temples. Although it is not always clear whether Shiva is invoked as a great god of frightful aspect, capable of conquering demonic power, or as the boon-giving lord and protector. Although Shiva might be the sole principle above change and variation who sometimes sides with the demons, he did not sever his connections with innumerable local deities and much-feared powers worshipped by most Hindus , who still continue to invoke him in magical rites.

Shiva reconciles in his person semantically opposite though complementary aspects: he is both terrible terrifying and mild, destroyer and restorer, eternal rest and ceaseless activity. These seeming contradictions make him a paradoxical figure, transcending humanity and assuming a mysterious sublimity of his own. His From the standpoint of his devotees, his character is so complicated and his interests are so widely divergent as to lead him in mythical narratives into conflicting situationsseem incomprehensible. Yet, although Brahman philosophers like to emphasize his ascetic aspects and the ritualists of the Tantric tradition his sexuality, the seemingly opposite strands of his nature are generally accepted as two sides of one character.

Shiva temporarily interrupts his austerity and asceticism (tapas) to marry Parvati, and he combines the roles of lover and ascetic to such a degree that his wife must be an ascetic (yogi) when he devotes himself to austerities and a lustful mistress loving companion when he is in his erotic mode. This dual character finds its explanation in the ancient conviction belief that, by his very chastity, an ascetic accumulates (sexual) power that can be discharged suddenly and completely, resulting in the fecundation of the soil. Various mythical tales reveal that both chastity and the loss of chastity are necessary for fertility and the intermittent process of regeneration in nature. Ascetics engaging in The erotic and creative experiences portrayed in these narratives are a familiar feature in Hinduism, and the element of sexuality in mythological thought counterbalances the they counterbalance the Hindu bent for asceticism. Such sexuality, while rather idyllic in Krishna, assumes a mystical aspect in Shiva, which is why the devotee can see in him the realization of the possibilities of both the ascetic life and the householder state. His marriage with Parvati is then a model of conjugal love, the divine prototype of human marriage, sanctifying the forces that carry on the human race.

Shiva’s many poses express various aspects of his nature: as a . The cosmic dancer, he is the originator of the eternal rhythm of the universe; he , dancing through its creation and destruction. He also catches, in his thickly matted hair, the waters of the heavenly Ganges River, which destroy all sin; and he . He wears in his headdress the crescent moon, which drips the nectar of everlasting life.

Shiva is the master of both tandava, the fierce, violent dance that gives rise to energy, and lasya, the gentle, lyric dance representing tenderness and grace. Holding a drum upon which he beats the rhythm of creation, he dances within a circle of flames that depicts the arc of dissolution. He holds up the palm of one hand in a gesture of protection; with another he points to his foot to indicate the refuge of his followers. The image of the dancing Shiva is said by Shaivites to portray five cosmic activities: creation, maintenance, destruction, concealing his true form from adversaries, and, finally, the grace through which he saves his devotees. The outer form of the dance, however, is only one aspect of the divine flow of energy; followers of Shiva say that the dance is in the heart of every devotee.

Yet while the dancing Shiva is an important and popular representation, the abstract form of Shiva is perhaps the most commonly seen portrayal throughout India. Shiva is depicted as a conical shaft (lingam) of fire within a womb (yoni), illustrating the creative powers of Shiva and Parvati. In temples the lingam, which literally means “distinguishing symbol,” is an upright structure that is often made of stone. It is placed in a stone yoni that represents both the womb and the abode of all creation. The union between the lingam and the yoni serves as a reminder that male and female forces are united in generating the universe.

Shiva also represents the unpredictability of divinity. He is the hunter who slays and skins his prey and dances a wild dance while covered with the bloody its hide. Far from society and the ordered world, he sits on the inaccessible Himalayan plateau of Mount Kailasa, an austere ascetic, averse to love, who burns Kama, the god of love, to ashes with a glance from the third eye—the eye of insight beyond duality—in the middle of his forehead. Yet another epiphany is that of the lingam, an upright rounded post, usually of stone, representing a phallus, in which form he is worshipped throughout India. And at the end of the eon, he will dance the universe to destruction. He is nevertheless invoked as Shiva, Shambhu, Shankara (“Benignant” and “Beneficent”), for the god that can strike down can also spare. Snakes seek his company and twine themselves around his body. He wears a necklace of skulls. He sits in meditation, with his hair braided like a hermit’s, his body smeared white with ashes. These ashes recall the burning pyres on which the sannyasis (renouncers) take leave of the social order of the world and set out on a lonely course toward release, carrying with them a human skull.

Shiva’s consort is Parvati (“Daughter of the Mountain [Himalaya]”), a goddess most unlike the consorts of Vishnu in his various incarnationswho is an auspicious and powerful wife. She is also personified as the Goddess (Devi), Mother (Amba), black and destructive (Kali), fierce (Candika), and inaccessible (Durga). As Shiva’s female counterpart, she inherits some of Shiva’s more fearful aspects. She comes to be regarded as the power (shakti) of Shiva, without which Shiva is helpless. Shakti is in turn personified in the form of many different goddesses, often said to be aspects of her.

Myths Narratives of culture heroes

A culture hero can easily be assimilated to a god by identifying him with an incarnation of a god. Thus, great religious teachers are considered manifestations of the god of their devotional preaching, and stories of their lives have become part of a very rich mythologystorehouse of narratives. Practically gods on earth, these ascetics, according to mythology, have amassed tremendous powers that they do not hesitate to use. The sage Kapila, meditating in the netherworld, burned to ashes 60,000 princes who had dug their way to him. Another sage, Bhagiratha, brought the Ganges River down from heaven to sanctify their ashes and, in the process, created the ocean. Agastya, revered as the Brahman who brought Sanskrit civilization to South India, drank and digested the ocean. When the Vindhya mountain range would not stop growing, Agastya crossed it to the south and commanded it to cease growing until his return; he still has not returned. Vishvamitra, a king who became a Brahman, created a new universe with its own galaxies to spite the gods.

In myths concerning kings and princes, a prevailing theme is the trial of the son by the father. For example, the ancient king Yayati had five sons to whom he wanted to transfer his own senescence for a stipulated period. All refused except the youngest, Puru, whose reward was to become his father’s successor and whose descendants became the Pauravas, the dynasty in which the heroes of the Mahabharata were later born. The latter heroes also underwent a trial when they were exiled from their newly won kingdom. Heroines undergo their own trials, usually involving a challenge to their chastity, as in the case of Sita in the Ramayana and Draupadi, the one wife of all five Pandava brothers, whose sari became endless when a lustful villain attempted to pull it off.

Moving from myth to legendhagiography (biography of venerated persons), there are also stories told of the great teachers, and every founder of a sect is soon deified as an incarnation of a god: the philosopher Shankara (c. 788–820) as an incarnation of Shiva, ; the religious leader Ramanuja (d. AD1137) as that of Narayana-Vishnu, Ananta, the sacred serpent of Vishnu; and the Bengal teacher Caitanya (1485–1533) simultaneously as that of Krishna and his beloved Radha.

Myths of holy rivers and holy places

Of particular sanctity in India are the rivers, among which the Ganges stands first. This river, personified as a goddess, originally flowed only in heaven until she was brought down by Bhagiratha to purify the ashes of his ancestors. She came down reluctantly, cascading first on the head of Shiva in order to break her fall, which would have shattered the Earth. Confluences are particularly holy, and the confluence of the Ganges with the Yamuna at Allahabad is the most sacred spot in India. Another river of importance is the Sarasvati, which loses itself in desert; it was personified as a goddess of eloquence and learning.

All major and many minor temples and sanctuaries have their own myths of how they were founded and what miracles were wrought there. The same is true of famous places of pilgrimage, usually at sacred spots near and in rivers; important among these are Vrindavana (Brindaban) on the Yamuna, which is held to be the scene of the youthful adventures of Krishna and the cowherd wives. Another such centre with its own myths is Gaya, especially sacred for the funerary rites that are held there. And there is no spot in Varanasi (Benares), along the Ganges, that is without its own mythical history. Srirangam, a temple town set in an island in the Kaveri River in Tamil Nadu, is considered to be heaven on earth (bhuloka vaikuntham). There are also many places sacred to followers of Vishnu, Shiva, or other deities.

Philosophical texts

Although the details of Indian philosophy, as it has been developed by professional philosophers, may be treated as a subject separate from Hinduism (see Indian philosophy), certain broad philosophical concepts were absorbed into the myths and rituals of Hindus and are best viewed as a component of the religious tradition.

Mysticism

One of the major trends of Indian religious philosophy is mysticism: the . This term can be misleading, however, as it can evoke Western, and particularly Christian, notions of religious experience, practice, and ends. Nevertheless, many scholars of religion have long used such concepts to study Hinduism and to interpret it for Western students. The desire for union of the self with something greater than the self, whether that is defined as a principle that pervades the universe or as a personal God, is one sense in which Hinduism has a “mystical” dimension. Yet, while Hindu mysticism includes both these forms and a great many that lie in between. At at one extreme is the realization of the identity of the individual self with the impersonal principle called brahman, (the position of the Vedanta school of Indian philosophy; ), at the other extreme it is the intensive devotionalism to a personal God that is found in the bhakti (devotional) sects.

Most Hindu mystical thought displays four common features. First, it is based on experience: the state of realization, whatever it is called, is both knowable and communicable, and the systems are all designed to teach people how to reach it. It is not, in other words, pure speculation. Second, it has as its goal the release of the spirit-substance of the individual from its prison in matter, whether matter is considered real or illusory. Third, all the many systems recognize the importance or the necessity of the control of the mind and body as a means of realization; sometimes this takes the form of extreme asceticism and mortification, and sometimes it takes the form of the cultivation of mind and body in order that their energies may be properly channeled. Finally, at the core of Hindu mystical thought is the functional principle that knowing is being. Thus, knowledge is something more than analytical categorizing: it is total understanding. This understanding can be purely intellectual, and some schools equate the final goal with omniscience, as does Yoga. But understanding can also mean total transformation: if one truly knows something, one is that thing. Thus, in the devotional schools, the goal of the devotee is to transform into a being who, in eternity, is in immediate and loving relationship to the deity. But despite the fact that these are both ways of knowing, some consider the difference between them is to be significant. In the first instance, the individual has the responsibility to train and use his own intellect. The love relationship of the second, on the other hand, is one of dependence, and the deity assists the devotee through grace. Thus, some theological schools emphasize self-control, while others stress devotion and divine grace. Still other teachers say that the devotee should not exert himself to control his mind; rather, with meditation his consciousness will naturally try to transcend itself and reach a blissful state. In fact, some Shrivaishnava theologians have said that one should simply consent to the reception of divine grace and not assume any responsibility in the scheme of salvation; others within this tradition have emphasized the importance of bhakti understood as active self-surrender to Vishnu and Lakshmi. The distinction is generally made between these two visions of salvation is illustrated by the analogy of the cat and the monkey: the . The cat carries her young in her mouth, and thus the kitten has no responsibility. But the young monkey must cling by its own strength to its mother’s back.

It is usual for writers on the subject, following Surendranath Dasgupta, a historian of Indian philosophy, to list five major varieties of Hindu mysticism, the five having arisen in historical order as follows:

The sacrificial, based on the Vedas and Brahmanas.The Upanishadic, in which are found the beginnings of both monistic (concerned with a unitary principle of reality, immanent in the world) and theistic (concerned with a personal or suprapersonal God) systems.The Yogic, relating to physical and mental discipline; the earliest known text of this school is the Yoga-sutra of Patanjali, dated variously between the 2nd century BCE and the 5th century CE. According to Yogic mysticism, man realizes union by means of physical and mental control of himself, which in turn leads to control of both natural and divine forces.The Buddhistic, in which enlightenment is the realization of the Four Noble Truths—the fact of suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the means of arriving at these three truths: the Eightfold Path. The ultimate state, the culmination of one path of the Eightfold Path, is nirvana, “the blowing out,” the extinction of desire (see Buddhism; Buddha).The devotional, or bhakti, type, which comprises a range of theistic systems, with a conception of absolute dualism between humanity and God on the one extreme and a conception of qualified nondualism on the other. Although there are traces of this devotionalism throughout the history of Indian religion, it began to develop in earnest in South India in the 7th through 10th centuries CE with the hymns of the poet-saints called Alvars.

Philosophical sutras and the rise of the Six Schools of philosophy

The systems of the Six Schools (Saddarshana) of orthodox Hindu philosophy were formulated in terse sutras from about the beginning of the Common Era through the period of the Gupta empire (320–540).

The most important of the Six Schools is the Vedanta (“End of the Vedas”), also called Uttara-Mimamsa or, later, Mimamsa. The most-renowned philosopher of this school—and, indeed, of all Hinduism—was school was Shankara (traditionally dated c. 788–820, though he probably lived in the first half of the 8th century). Born at Kaladi in Kerala, he is said to have spent most of his life traveling through India debating with members of other sects. The Shankaran system has sounded the keynote of intellectual Hinduism down to the present, but later teachers founded sub-schools of Vedanta, which are perhaps equally important.

Shankara was also responsible for the growth of Hindu monasticism, which had been in existence for more than a millennium in the form of hermit colonies. Inscriptions from Gupta times onward also refer to monklike orders of Shaiva ascetics, apparently living according to distinctive disciplines and with distinguishing garments and emblems. Shankara founded the dashnamidashanami, a closely disciplined Shiva order, perhaps partly modeled on the Buddhist order, the sangha. The dashnamidashanami, which is still the most influential orthodox Hindu ascetic group, is composed of 10 brotherhoods (dashnamidashanamimeans “those with 10 names”). Orders became an established institution with wider geographic affiliations. Some of these admitted Brahmans only; others were open to all four classes or even to women; some made a practice of nudity; and all are inclined to individual asceticism. Shankara is also said to have founded the four main monasteries (matha) at the four corners of India: Sringeri in Karnataka, Badrinath in the Himalayas, Dwarka Dwaraka in Gujarat, and Puri in Orissa. Many followers of Shankara in southern India, however, aver that Shankara established a monastery in the city of Kanchipuram, near Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The monastic head of this institution as well as the abbots of these the other monasteries control the spiritual lives of many millions of devout Shaiva laypersons throughout India, and their establishments strive to maintain the traditional philosophical Hinduism of the strict Vedanta. In modern times, certain dashnamidashanamileaders have incurred criticism for their firm opposition to social change.

The theologians had to assume the task of explaining the relation between God, the unaffected and unchanging cause of all things, and the universe. According to the great South Indian thinker and devotee of Vishnu Ramanuja (c. 1017–1137), brahman (i.e., God) is a Person as well as the object of an individual’s search for the higher knowledge that is the only entrance to salvation. Because an absolute creation is denied, God is viewed as the sole cause of his own modifications—namely, the emanation, existence, and absorption of the universe. The universe, consisting of chit (consciousness) and achit (what is not conscious; this category includes matter and time), forms the body of brahman, or Vishnu.

God is conceived to be essentially different from everything material, the absolute opposite of any evil, free from any imperfection, omniscient, omnipotent, possessed of all positive qualities (such as knowledge, bliss, beauty, and truth), of incomparable majesty, the inner soul of all beings, and the ultimate goal of every religious effort. The universe is considered a real transformation of brahman, whose “body” consists of the conscious souls and everything unconscious in their subtle and gross states. The karma doctrine is modified as follows: the Lord, having determined good and bad deeds, provides all individual souls with a body in which they perform deeds, reveals to them the scriptures from which they may learn the dharma, and enters into them as their internal regulator. The individual acts at his own discretion but needs the Lord’s assent. If the devotee wishes to please him, God induces him, with infallible justice and loving regard, to intentions and effort to perform good deeds by which the devotee will attain him; if not, God keeps him from that goal.

Influenced by the bhakti movement, Ramanuja had admitted a twofold possibility two ways of emancipation: in addition to the meditative method of the highest insight (jnana) into the oneness of soul and God, which destroys the residues of karma and propitiates God to win his grace, there is the way of bhakti. Those who prefer the former way will reach a state of isolation, the others an infinitely blissful eternal life in, through, and for God, with whom they are one in nature but not identical. They do not lose their individuality and may even meet Vishnu in his Vaikuntha heaven and enjoy delight beyond description. Among many followers of Ramanuja, however, complete self-surrender (prapatti) came to be distinguished from bhakti as a superior means of spiritual realization.

Authors of Shaiva Puranas established two ingenious and complementary doctrines to explain the nature and omnipotence of God, the existence of the world, and the identity of God and the world. A theory of five “faces,” or manifestations—each of which is given mythological names and related mantras—is of great ritual significance. It associates Shiva’s so-called creative function, by which he provokes the evolution of the material cause of the universe, with his first face, or aspect; the maintenance and reabsorption of the universe with his second and third faces; his power of obscuration, by which he conceals the souls in the phenomena of samsara, with his fourth face; and his ability to bestow his grace, which leads to final emancipation, with his fifth face. The five functions are an emanation of the unmanifested Shiva, who is the transcendent brahman.

The faces became the central elements of a comprehensive classification system. They were identified with parts of God’s body, regions of the universe, various ontological principles, organs of sense and action, and the elements. The system was used to explain how Shiva’s being is the All and how the universe is exclusively composed of aspects or manifestations of Shiva. In his fivefold nature, Shiva was shown to be identical with the 25 elements or principles assumed by the prominent Samkhya school of Indian philosophy. The special significance of the number five in Shaivism can be understood as a philosophical elaboration of the time-honoured fourfold organization of the universe. (The four quarters of the sky also play a prominent part in religious practice.) According to this conception, a fifth aspect, when added to the four, is considered the most important aspect of the group because it represents each of the four and collectively unites all of their functions in itself. The system finds its complement in the doctrine of the five sadakhyas (five items that bear the name sat, “is” or “being”) representing the five aspects of that state, which may be spoken of as the experience of “there is” (sat) and which have evolved from God’s fivefold creative energy (shakti). In these God “dwells” in his aspect called Sadashiva (“Eternal Shiva”), which is regarded sometimes as a manifestation of and sometimes as identical with the Supreme Being.

Another Shaiva doctrine posits eight “embodiments” of Shiva as the elements of nature—ether, wind, fire, water, earth—and the Sun, the Moon, and the sacrificer, or consecrated worshiper (also called Atman). To each of these eight elements corresponds one of Shiva’s traditional names or aspects—to the last one, usually Pashupati. The world is a product of these eight forms, consists of them, and can exist and fulfill its task only because the eight embodiments cooperate. Because each individual is also composed of the same eight realities (e.g., the light of man’s eyes corresponds to that of the Sun), Shiva constitutes the corporeal frame and the psychical organism of every living being. The eighth constituent is the indispensable performer of the rites that sustain the gods who preside over the cosmic processes and are really Shiva’s faculties.

Although Shaivism is a much more coherent whole than Vaishnavism, branches with peculiarities of their own Many branches of Shaivism having distinctive characteristics evolved in different parts of India. According to the idealist monism of Kashmir Shaivism, an important religious-philosophical school, Shiva manifests himself through a special power as the first cause of creation, and he also manifests himself through a second power as the innumerable individual souls who, because of a veil of impurity, forget that they are the embodiment of the Highest. This veil can be torn off by intense faith and constant meditation on God, by which the soul transmutes itself into a universal soul and eventually attains liberation through a lightning-like, intuitive insight into its own nature. Hindus who adhere to this group consider their doctrine a manifestation of the highest reality, Knowing Consciousness, neither personal nor impersonal.

The Shaiva-siddhanta, a prominent school of Tamil-speaking South India, assumes three eternal principles: God (who is independent existence, unqualified intelligence, and absolute bliss), the universe, and the souls. The world, because it is created by God (efficient cause) through his conscious power (instrumental cause) and maya (material cause), is no illusion. The main purpose of its creation is the liberation of the beginningless souls, which are conceived as “cattle” (pashu) bound by the noose (pasha) of impurity (mala) or spiritual ignorance, which forces them to produce karma. Members of this school see the karma process as a benefit, however, because they believe that, as soon as the soul has sufficiently ripened and reached a state of purity enabling it to strive after the highest insight, God graciously intervenes, appearing in the shape of a fully qualified and liberated spiritual guide (guru), through whose words God permits himself to be realized by the individual soul.

Tantrism

Tantric traditions and Shaktism

Toward the end of the 5th century, the cult of the mother goddess assumed a significant place in Indian religious life. Shaktism, the worship of Shakti, the active power of the godhead conceived in feminine terms, should be distinguished from Tantrism, the search for spiritual power and ultimate release by means of the repetition of sacred syllables and phrases (mantras), symbolic drawings (mandalas), and other secret rites elaborated in the texts known as Tantras (“Looms”).

In many respects the Tantras are similar to the Puranas. Theoretically, the Tantras deal with (1) knowledge, or philosophy, (2) Yoga, or concentration techniques, (3) ritual, which includes the construction of icons and temples, and (4) conduct in religious worship and social practice. In general, the last two subjects are the most numerous, while Yoga tends to centre on the mystique of certain sound-symbols (mantras) that sum up esoteric doctrines. The philosophy tends to be a syncretistic mixture of Sankhya and Vedanta thought, with special and at times exclusive emphasis on the god’s power, or shakti. The Tantric texts can be divided into three classes: (1) Shaiva Agamas (traditions of the followers of Shiva), (2) Vaishnava Samhitas (“Collections of the Vaishnavas,” a name borrowed from the Vedic Samhitas), and (3) Shakta Tantras (“Looms of the Followers of the Goddess Shakti”). However, they all have the common bond of venerating the Goddess.

The surviving Hindu Tantras were written much later than many of those of Tantric Buddhism, which may have heavily influenced the Hindu texts. Although there is early evidence of Tantrism and Shaktism in other parts of India, the chief centres of both in Bengal, Bihar, and Assam.

Shaiva Agamas

Like much other Hindu sacred literature, this literature is neither well-cataloged nor thoroughly studiedvast and spans several centuries. It is possible here to summarize only classes of texts within the various traditions.

The sects of Agamic Shaivas (Shiva worshipers who follow their own Agama—“traditional”—texts) encompass both the Sanskritic Shaiva-siddhanta—i.e., those who accept the philosophical premises and conclusions of Shaivas in the north—and the southern Lingayats or Vilashaivas Virashaivas (from vira, literally “hero”; a lingam is the Shiva emblem that is worshipped in lieu of images). The Shaiva-siddhanta traditionally has 28 Agamas and 150 sub-Agamas. Their principal texts are difficult to date, though most of them probably were not composed before the 8th century. Their doctrine states that Shiva is the conscious principle of the universe, while matter is unconscious. Shiva’s power, or shakti, personified as a goddess, causes bondage and release. She is also the magic Word, and thus her nature can be sought out and meditated upon in mantras.

Kashmir Shaivism begins with the Shiva-sutra, or “Lines of Doctrine Concerning Shiva” (c. 850), as a new revelation of Shiva. The system embraces the Shivadristi (“A Vision of Shiva”) of Somananda (950), in which emphasis is placed on the continuous recognition of Shiva; the world is a manifestation of Shiva brought about by his shakti. The system is called trika (“triad”), because it recognizes the three principles of Shiva, Shakti, and the individual soul. Virashaiva texts begin at about 1150 with the VacanamsVacana(“Sayings”) of Basava. The sect is puritanical, worships Shiva exclusively, rejects the caste system in favour of its own social organization, and is highly structured, with monasteries and gurus.

Vaishnava Samhitas

These consist of two groups of texts, Vaikhanasa Samhitas and Pancharatra Samhitas, which together include more than 200 titles, though the official number is 108. Vaikhanasa Samhitas (collections of the Vaishnava school of Vaikhanasas, who were originally ascetics) seem to have been the original temple manuals for the Bhagavatas (devotees of Vishnu), which by the 11th or 12th century had become supplanted by the Pancharatra Samhitas (collections of the Vaishnava school of Pancharatra—“System of the Five Nights”). The philosophy of the latter is largely a matter of cosmogony, greatly inspired by both Sankhya and Yoga teachings. The Lakshmi Tantra declares that surrender to the goddess Lakshmi as well as to Vishnu is necessary for salvation. The emotional and spiritual surrender is marked with a ritual in which the devotee transfers the burden of his salvation to Lakshmi and Vishnu, is given a new name, and is branded with the marks of Vishnu on his upper arms.

Apart from their theology, in which for the first time the notion of shakti is introduced into Vaishnavism, the Vaishnava Samhitas are important because they give an exposition of Vaishnava temple and cult practiceshome rituals. The texts also maintain that the supreme god Krishna Vasudeva manifests himself in four coequal “divisions” (vyuhas), representing levels of creation. These gods emanate as supramundane patrons before the primary creation is started by their shakti. In the primary creation, Shakti manifests herself as a female creative force. Practically, stress is laid on a type of incarnation—“iconic incarnation”—in which a portion of the god divine being is actually present in a stone or statue, which thus becomes an icon; therefore, the icon can be worshipped as God himself.

Shakta Tantras

Shaktism in one form or another has been known since Bana (c. 650) wrote his Hundred Couplets to Candi (Candi-shataka) and Bhavabhuti his play Malati Madhava (early 8th century), about the adventures of the hero Madhava and his beloved Malati; both of these works refer to Tantric practices. There is no traditional authoritative list of Tantric texts, but many are extant.

Shaktism is an amalgam of Shaivism and mother goddess cults. The Shaiva notion that Shiva’s shakti, not Shiva himself, is active is taken to the extreme—without Shakti, Shiva is a corpse, and Shakti is the creator as well as creation. Another important notion (partly derived from Yoga philosophy) is that throughout the body there are subtle canals that carry esoteric powers connected with the spinal cord, at the bottom of which the Goddess is coiled around the lingam as kundalini (“coil”); she can be made to rise through the body to the top, whereupon release from samsara takes place. Important among the Shakta Tantras are the Kularnava-tantra (“Ocean of Tantrism”), which gives details on the “left-handed” cult forms of ritual copulation (i.e., those that are not part of traditional Hindu practice); the Kulacudamani (“Crown Jewel of Tantrism”), which discusses ritual; and the Sharadatilaka (“Beauty Mark of the Goddess Sharada”) of Lakshmanadeshika (11th century), which focuses almost exclusively on magic. A temple was erected in honour of the mother goddess at Gangdhar, Rajasthan, in 423 CE. Magical rites of a terrifying kind were apparently practiced there, for the temple is described as “loud with the shouts of demonesses, crying in the thick darkness,” by the playwright Bhavabhuti, whose drama Malati Madhava contains a scene depicting human sacrifice and ritual cannibalism. The goddess cults eventually centred around Durga, the consort of Shiva, in her fiercer aspect.

Nature of Tantric tradition

Tantrism, which appears in both Buddhism and Hinduism, influenced many religious trends and movements from the 5th century CE, but some of it was primarily meant for esoteric circles. Claiming to show in times of religious decadence a new way to the highest goal, Tantrism bases itself upon mystic speculations concerning divine creative energy (shakti). Tantrism is thought to be a method of conquering transcendent powers and realizing oneness with the highest principle by Yogic and ritual means—in part magical and orgiastic—which are also supposed to achieve other supranormal goals.

Tantrists take for granted that all factors in the macrocosm and the microcosm are closely connected. The adept (sadhaka) has to perform the relevant rites on his own body, transforming its normal, chaotic state into a “cosmos.” The macrocosm is conceived as a complex system of powers that by means of ritual-psychological techniques can be activated and organized within the individual body of the adept. Contrary to the ascetic emancipation methods of other groups, the Tantrists emphasize the activation and sublimation of the possibilities of their own body, without which salvation is believed to be beyond reach.

The Tantrists of the Vamacara (“the left-hand practice”) sought to intensify their own sense impressions by making enjoyment, or sensuality (bhoga), their principal concern: the adept pursued his spiritual objective through his natural functions and inclinations, which were sublimated and then gratified in rituals in order to disintegrate his normal personality. This implies that cultic life was largely interiorized and that the whole world was given a new and esoteric meaning.

The esoteric part of Tantric worship (puja) is complicated and in many respects different from the ceremonies that it has influenced. Tantric devotees interpret their texts by means of an ambiguous “twilight” language and distinguish between the texts’ “external” and their esoteric meaning. Tantrists describe states of consciousness with erotic terminology and describe physiological processes with cosmological terminology. They proceed from “external” to “internal” worship and adore the Goddess mentally, offering their hearts as her throne and their self-renunciation as “flowers.”

According to Tantrism, concentration is intended to evoke an internal image of the deity and to resuscitate the powers inherent in it so that the symbol changes into mental experience. This “symbolic ambiguity” is also much in evidence in the esoteric interpretation of ritual acts performed in connection with images, flowers, and other cult objects and is intended to bring about a transfiguration in the mind of the adept.

The mantras (sacred utterances, such as hum, hrim, and klamkleem) are believed to be indispensable means of entering into contact with the power they bear and of transcending mundane existence. Most potent are the monosyllabic, bija (“seed”) mantras, which constitute the main element of longer formulas and embody the essence of divine power as the eternal, indestructible prototypes from which anything phenomenal derives its existence. The cosmos itself owes its very structure and harmony to them. Also important is the introduction of spiritual qualities or divine power into the body (nyasa) by placing a finger on the relevant spot (accompanied by a mantra).

Tantrists who follow the “right-hand path” attach much value to the Yoga that developed under their influence and to bhakti and aspire to union with the Supreme by emotional-dynamic means. For them, Yoga is a self-abnegation in order to reach a state of ecstatic blissfulness in which the passive soul is lifted up by divine grace.

There is also a Tantric mantra-yoga (discipline through spells), which operates with formulas, and a hatha-yoga, (Sanskrit: “union of force”). Hatha-yoga incorporates normal Yogic practices such as abstinences; observances; bodily postures; breath control; withdrawal of the mind from external objects; concentration, contemplation, and identification with the aid of mudras (i.e., ritual intertwining of fingers or gestures expressing the metaphysical aspect of the ceremonies or the transformation effected by the mantras); and muscular contractions. It also consists of internal purifications (e.g., washing out stomach and bowels), shaking the abdomen, and some forms of self-torture. The whole process is intended to “control the ‘gross body’ in order to free the ‘subtle body.’”

Some Tantrists employ laya-yoga (“reintegration by mergence”), in which the female nature-energy (representing the shakti), which is said to remain dormant and coiled in the form of a serpent (kundalini) representing the uncreated, is awakened and made to rise through the six centres (chakras) of the body, which are located along the central artery of the subtle body, from the root centre to the lotus of a thousand petals at the top of the head, where it merges into the Purusha, the male Supreme Being. Once the union of shakti and Purusha has become permanent, according to this doctrine, wonderful visions and powers come to the adept, who then is emancipated. Some of the Tantric texts also pursue worldly objectives involving magic or medicine.

Tantric and Shakta views of nature, humanity, and the sacred

The Tantric movement is sometimes inextricably interwoven with Shaktism, which assumes the existence of one or more shaktis. These are “creative energies” that are inherent in and proceed from God and are also capable of being imagined as female deities. Shakti is the deciding factor in the salvation of the individual and in the processes of the universe because God acts only through his energy—which, personified as a goddess, is his spouse. Her role is very different in the various systems: she may be considered the central figure in a philosophically established doctrine, the dynamic aspect of brahman, producing the universe through her maya, or mysterious power of illusion; a capricious demonic ruler of nature in its destructive aspects; a benign mother goddess; or the queen of a celestial court. One form of Shaktism identifies the goddess (usually Durga) with brahman and worships her as the ruler of the universe by virtue of whom even Shiva exists. As Mahayogini (“Great Mistress of Yoga”), she produces, maintains, and reabsorbs the world. As the Eternal Mother, she is exalted in the Devimahatmya (“Glorification of the Goddess”) section of the Markandeya-purana (an important Shakta encyclopaedic text). In the Bengal cult of the goddess Kali, she demands bloody sacrifices from her worshipers lest her creative potency fail her. This cult also propounds the belief that birth and death are inseparable, that joy and grief spring from the same source, and that the frightening manifestations of the divine should be faced calmly.

In all of his incarnations Vishnu is united with his consort, Lakshmi. The sacred tales of his various relations with her manifestations led his worshipers to view human devotion as parallel to divine love and hence as universal, eternal, and sanctified. In Vaishnava Tantrism, Lakshmi plays an important part as God’s shakti. In his supreme state, Vishnu and his shakti are indissolubly associated with one another and thus constitute the personal manifestation of the supreme brahman, also called Lakshmi-Narayana. In mythical visual imagery, Lakshmi never leaves Vishnu’s bosom. In the first stage of creation, she awakens in her dual aspect of action-and-becoming, in which she is the instrumental and material cause of the universe; Vishnu himself is the efficient cause. In the second stage, her “becoming” aspect is manifested in the grosser forms of the souls and the power of maya, which is the immaterial source of the universe. In displaying her power, she takes into consideration the accumulated karma of the beings, judging mundane existence as merit and demerit. Presented in myth as God’s wife and the queen of the universe, she is always intent on liberating the incarnated souls of the devout; that is, she allows them to reenter into herself because they are really “parts,” or rather “contractions,” of her own essence.After entering her, the liberated soul takes part in the perfect embrace of the divine couple.

Pancharatra Vaishnavism emphasizes that Lakshmi—who in the mythological sphere intercedes with her husband for the preservation of the world—spontaneously and by virtue of her own power differentiates herself from Vishnu because she has in view the liberation of the souls. This current of thought complicated its explanation of the relation between God and the universe—which was at the same time an attempt at assigning to God’s manifestations a place in a harmonious theological and cosmological system—with an evolutionist theory of successive creations. God is assumed to manifest himself also in three other figures, mythologically his brothers, who, each with his own responsibility, have not only a creative but also an ethical function, by which they assist those who seek to achieve final emancipation.

Tantric ritual and magical practices

The ritual of the left-hand Tantrists consisted of a kind of black mass was one in which all of the taboos of conventional Hinduism were conscientiously violated. Thus, in place of the traditional five elements (tattvas) of the Hindu cosmos, these Tantrists used the five m’s: mamsa (flesh, meat), matsya (fish), madya (fermented grapes, wine), mudra (frumentum, cereal, parched grain, or gestures), and maithuna (fornicationsexual union). This latter element was made particularly antinomian through the involvement of forbidden women—such as one’s sister or mother, the wife of another man , or a low-caste woman—who was identified with the Goddess. Menstrual blood, strictly taboo in conventional Hinduism, was also used in Tantric rites. Such rituals, which are described in Tantric texts and in tracts against Tantrists, made the Tantrists notorious. It is likely, however, that the rituals were not regularly performed except by a small group of highly trained adepts; the usual Tantric ceremony was purely symbolic and even more fastidious than the pujas in Hindu temples.

The cult of the Shaktas is based on the principle of the ritual sublimation of natural impulses to maintain and reproduce life. Shakta adepts are trained to direct all their energies toward the conquest of the Eternal. The ritual satisfaction of lust sexual act and the consumption of consecrated meat or liquor are esoterically significant means of realizing the unity of flesh and spirit, of the human and the divine. They are considered not sinful acts but effective means of salvation. Ritual copulation—which union—which may also be accomplished symbolically—is, for both partners, a form of sacralization, the act being a participation in cosmic and divine processes. The experience of transcending space and time, of surpassing the phenomenal duality of spirit and matter, of recovering the primeval unity, the realization of the identity of God and his Shakti, and of the manifested and unmanifested aspects of the All, constitute the very mystery of Shaktism.

The interpretation of doctrines and ritual practice is varied. Extreme Shakta communities, for example, are said to perform the secret nocturnal rites of the shricakra (“wheel of radiance,” described in the Kularnava-tantra), in which they avail themselves of the natural and esoteric symbolic properties of colours, sounds, and perfumes to intensify their sexual sensual experiences. Most Tantrists, however, eliminate all but the verbal ritual.

Individual and collective Yoga and worship, conducted daily, fortnightly, and monthly “for the delectation of the deity,” are of special importance. After elaborate purifications, the worshipers—who must be initiated, full of devotion toward the guru and God, have control over themselves, be well prepared and pure of heart, know the mysteries of the scriptures, and look forward to the adoration with eagerness—make the prescribed offerings, worship the power of the Divine Mother, and recite the relevant mantras. Having become aware of their own state of divinity, they are qualified to unite sexually with the Goddess. If a woman is, in certain rituals, made the object of sexual worship, the Goddess is first invoked into her; the worshiper is not to cohabit with her until his mind is free from impurity and he has risen to divine status. Copulation Union with a low-caste woman helps to transcend all opposites. Union with a woman who belongs to another man is often preferred because it is harder to obtain, nothing is certain in it, and the longing stemming from the separation of lover and beloved is more intense; it is pure preman (agape, or divine love). Adoration of a girl of age 16 aims at securing the completeness and perfection of which this number is said to be the expression. However, the texts reiterate how dangerous these rites are for those who are not initiated; those who perform such ritual acts without merging their minds in the Supreme are likely to go to one of the hells.

The esoteric Vaishnava-Sahajiya cult, which arose in Bengal in the 16th century, was another emotional attempt at reconciling the spirit and the flesh. Displaying contempt for Disregarding social opinion, its adherents, using the natural (sahaja, “born with”) qualities of the senses and stressing the sexual symbolism of Bengal Vaishnavism, reinterpreted the Radha-Krishna legend and sought for the perpetual experience of divine joy. Based on this understanding of the legend, members of the Vaishnava-Sahajiya cult held that, after arduous training, the realization of love can be experienced, because Krishna’s nature is love and the giving of love and because man is identical with Krishna. Women, as the embodiment of a theological principle, could even become spiritual guides, like Radha, conducting the worshipers in their search for realization. After reaching this state, a devotee remains in eternal bliss and can dispense with guru and ritual and be completely indifferent to the world, “steadfast amidst the dance of maya.”

Tantric and Shakta ethical and social doctrines

These ethical and social principles, though fundamentally the same as those promulgated in the classical dharma works, breathe a spirit of liberality: much value is set upon family life and respect for women (the image of the Goddess); no ban is placed on traveling (conventionally regarded as bringing about ritual pollution) or on the remarriage of widows. Although Tantric and Shakta traditions did not oblige their followers to deviate in a socially visible way from the established order, they provided a ritual and a way of life for those who, because of sex or caste, could not participate satisfyingly in the conventional rites.

The ancient Tantric tradition, based on the esoteric tantra literature, has become so interwoven with orthodox Hinduism that it is difficult to define precisely. Although it recognizes an identity between the soul and the cosmos, it emphasizes the internalization of the cosmos rather than the release of the soul to its natural state of unity. The body is the microcosm, and the ultimate state is not only omniscience but total realization of all universal and eternal forces. The body is real, not because it is the function or creation of a real deity but because it contains the deity, together with the rest of the universe. The individual soul does not unite with the One—it is the One, and the body is its function.

Tantrism, though not always in its full esoteric form, is a feature of much modern mystical thought. In Tantrism the consciousness is spoken of as moving—driven by repetition of the mantra and by other disciplines—from gross awareness of the material world to realization of the ultimate unity. The image is of a serpent, coiled and dormant, awakened and driven upward in the body through various stages of enlightenment until it reaches the brain, the highest awareness. The 19th-century mystic Ramakrishna describes the process, which is also the experience that all Hindu mystics seekwhat many Hindus seek in their quest for a spiritual experience:

When [the serpent] is awakened, it passes gradually through [various stages], and comes to rest in the heart. Then the mind moves away from [the gross physical senses]; there is perception, and a great brilliance is seen. The worshiper, when he sees this brilliance, is struck with wonder. The [serpent] moves thus through six stages, and coming to [the highest one], is united with it. Then there is samadhi.…When [the serpent] rises to the sixth stage, the form of God is seen. But a slight veil remains; it is as if one sees a light within a lantern, and thinks that the light itself can be touched, but the glass intervenes.…In samadhi, nothing external remains. One cannot even take care of his body any more; if milk is put into his mouth, he cannot swallow. If he remains for twenty-one days in this condition, he is dead. The ship puts out to sea, and returns no more.

Vernacular literatures

Most of the texts cited in this survey are Sanskrit texts, which constitute the oldest layer of extant Hindu literature. But the sacred literature of India is not as monolithic as these texts might suggest. Several other essential elements exist: independent sacred literatures in languages other than Sanskrit and material in other languages related to the Sanskrit texts either as sources of material now preserved only in Sanskrit or as new texts originating as translations of Sanskrit texts. Because Sanskrit has been in intimate contact with the mother tongues of India for such a long time, it is often impossible to determine in which of these categories a particular vernacular text belongs.

Indologists usually emphasize the influence of Sanskritic (often called “Aryan”) culture on Dravidian vernacular culture, and indeed this influence was considerable. Sanskritic influence was already in evidence in the earliest Tamil (a principal Dravidian language) literature, perhaps dating from before the 1st century CECommon Era. At this time in South India the orthodox cults were aristocratic in character and were supported by kings and chiefs who gained in prestige by patronizing Brahmansand adopting Aryan ways. The Tamils were still primarily devoted to the old cultstheir local traditions, some of which, however, were taking on an Aryan complexionbecoming Sanskritized. The pastoral god Murugan was identified with Skanda, and his mother, the fierce war goddess Korravai, with Durga. Varunan, a sea god who had adopted the name of an old Vedic god but otherwise had few Aryan Vedic features, and Mayon, a black god who was a rural divinity with many of the characteristics of Krishna in his pastoral aspect, also are depicted in Tamil literature. The final Sanskritization of the Tamils was brought about through the patronage of the Pallava kings of Kanchipuram, who began to rule in the 4th century CE and who financed the making of many temples and fine religious sculptures. Similar processes took place in the Deccan, Bengal, and other regions.

Sanskritization is a term that refers to a style of text that imitates the customs and manners of the Brahmans. But, although most sacred texts in Sanskrit were composed by Brahmans, many were composed by lower-class authors. Likewise, although some sacred texts in vernacular languages were written by authors of lower castes, many others were written by Brahmans. In addition, because Sanskrit ceased to be spoken as a primary language soon after the Vedas were composed, it is likely that most of the thoughts underlying all subsequent Sanskrit literature emerged first in some other language. Yet Indologists tend to be Sanskritists, and Sanskritists tend to assume that all texts originated in Sanskrit. Indeed, even the counterbalancing tendency to acknowledge the flow from non-Sanskrit to Sanskrit sources has often misfired; far too often it is merely asserted that anything that appears in post-Vedic Hinduism and is not attested in the Vedas is “Dravidian” or, even worse, from the Indus civilization (about whose religion virtually nothing is known). The issue is further clouded by the fact that, though Sanskrit texts tend to be written and vernacular traditions are primarily oral, there are important oral traditions in Sanskrit too (including the traditions of the two great Sanskrit epics), and there are important manuscript traditions in some of the non-Sanskritic languages (such as Bengali and Tamil). Indeed, written and oral versions of the epics and Puranas have been, from the very start, in constant symbiosis.

Little relevance, therefore, attaches to the distinction between written and oral traditions. A myth story is narrated, a process that is designated in Sanskrit by such words as purana (ancient story) and akhyana (illustrative narrative). In the oldest source, the Rigveda, myths are not so much told as alluded to; it is in the later Vedic literature of the Brahmanas that narratives are found, and these are often prejudiced by the liturgical concerns of the authors.

The recitation of certain myths was prescribed for various rituals. The epic Mahabharata states that Vedic stories were narrated “in the pauses of the ritual,” probably by Brahmans. The sutas (charioteers and panegyrists), who celebrated the feats of great rulers, were the mythographers of the Kshatriyas (the warrior class). The sutas were popular narrators of myth and legend and developed their own bardic repertoire, which was extended to higher mythology. They—and other wanderers who found ready audiences at sacrifices or places of pilgrimage—disseminated the lore.

Narrators continue to repeat and embroider the ancient stories of gods, sages, and kings. At an early stage their narratives were dramatized and gave rise to the Sanskrit theatre, in which epic mythic themes preponderate, and to the closely related dance, which survives in the now largely South Indian schools of bharata natyam (traditional dance) and the kathakali (narrative dance) of Kerala. Thus, even in Sanskrit literature, oral performance was an essential component, which further facilitated the assimilation of oral vernacular elements.

About 1500 BCE, invaders speaking Indo-European Sanskrit entered India and encountered a population whose majority spoke languages that belonged to a major non-Indo-European linguistic group called Dravidian. These two language groups interacted from a very early period, and, although the earliest preserved specimens of Sanskrit (themselves dating from a period long after the Indo-Aryan invasions) far antedate examples of any other languages, there is good reason to believe that the other languages also produced texts at a very early period. When devotional Hinduism came into full flower, the vernacular traditions both in Dravidian languages and in languages derived from Sanskrit began to record their texts and to have a more discernible influence upon the Sanskrit tradition.

Of the four primary Dravidian literatures—Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam—the oldest and best-known is Tamil. The earliest preserved Tamil literature, the so-called Shangam Sangam poetry anthologies, dates from the 1st century BCE. These poems are classified by theme into akam (“interior,” primarily love poetry) and puram (“exterior,” primarily about war, the poverty of poets, and the deaths of kings).

Tamil devotional poetry was remarkable for a number of reasons. It was composed by both men and women, by people of different castes (including “outcastes”), and in a language that was classical (Tamil already had a long and rich literary heritage) but also vernacular, or spoken. Despite all these factors, the poems were frequently hailed as divine revelation and sometimes as the equal of the Sanskrit Vedas.

The bhakti movement has been traced to Tamil poetry, beginning with the poems of the devotees of Shiva called Nayanars and the devotees of Vishnu called Alvars. The Nayanars, who date from about 800 CE, composed intensely personal and devout hymns addressed to the local manifestations of Shiva. The most famous Nayanar lyricists are Appar, Sambandar, and Cuntarar, whose hymns are collected in the Tevaram (c. 11th century). More or less contemporary were their Vaishnava counterparts, the Alvars Poykai, Putan, Peyar, and Tirumankaiyalvar; and in the 8th century the poetess Andal, as well as Periyalvar, Kulacekarar, Tiruppanalvar, and notably Nammalvar, who is held to be the greatest, composed their works. Shrivaishnavas consider Nammalvar’s poems, especially his Tiruvaymoli (“Sacred Utterance”), to be the Tamil Veda.

The devotion of which they sang exemplified the new bhakti movement, which sought a more direct contact between humans and God, carried by a passionate love for the Deity, who would reciprocate by extending his grace to humankind. These saints also became the inspiration of theistic systematic religion: the Shaivas for the Shaiva-siddhanta, the Vaishnavas for Vishistadvaita. In Kannada the same movement was exemplified by Basava, whose vacanamvacanas (“sayings” or “talks”) achieved great popularity.

New literary genres in Dravidian genres languages continued to evolve into the 17th and 18th centuries, when the Tamil Cittars (name derived from Sanskrit siddha, “perfected one”), who were eclectic mystics, composed poems noted for the power of their naturalistic diction. The Tamil sense and style of these poems belied the Sanskrit-derived title of their authors, a phenomenon that could stand as a symbol of the complex relationship between Dravidian the vernacular and Sanskrit religious texts.

The main languages derived from Sanskrit are Bengali, Hindi (with its many dialects, of which Maithili is the oldest and Urdu, heavily influenced by Persian and Arabic and written in a Perso-Arabic script, is the most important), Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Assamese, Nepali, Rajasthani, and Sinhalese. Most of these languages began to develop literary traditions about 1000 CE.

Although the earliest texts in Hindi are those sometimes attributed to the 13th–14th-century Muslim poet Amīr Khosrow, it was not until the 15th century that Hindi literature produced its own great religious lyricists. The earliest of these lyricists were the disciples of Ramananda (c. 140), who was a follower of the philosopher Ramanuja. The most famous of these lyricists is Kabir, a poet and mystic who was the forerunner of Sikhism. Tulsidas, apart from his Ramcaritmanas, composed Ramaite lyrics. Surdas (1483–1563), a follower of the Vallabha school of Vedanta, is known for his Sursagar (“Ocean of the Poems of Sursagar”), a collection of poems based on the stories of the childhood of Krishna found in the Bhagavata-purana. Perhaps the best-known bhakti poems are those of Mira Bai (1503–73), a Rajput princess who composed mostly in a local dialect of Hindi. She wrote passionate love poems to Krishna, whom she regarded as her husband and lover. Her bhajans (devotional songs) are sung by Hindus both privately and in public performances in India and throughout the diaspora. In the Marathi tradition, Namdev (1270?–1350?) celebrated Vishnu, particularly in his manifestation as Vitthoba at the Pandharpur temple; and in the 17th century Tukaram, the greatest poet of this literature, sang of the god of love in numerous hymns.

The importance of these writers is not limited to literature. A small sect, the Kabirpanthis, acknowledges Kabir as its founder, but its importance is less than that of the vigorous new religion (Sikhism) founded by one of Kabir’s disciples, Nanak.

Although the earliest Hindu text in Bengali is a mid-15th-century poem about Radha and Krishna, texts in praise of gods and goddesses, known as mangal-kavyas, surely existed in oral versions long before then. In later Bengal Vaishnavism, the emphasis shifts from service and surrender to mutual attachment and attraction between God (i.e., Krishna) and humankind: God is said to yearn for the worshiper’s identification with himself, which is his gift to the wholly purified devotee. The mystical and devotional possibilities of the Krishna legend are subordinated to religious practice; the divine sport and wonderful feats of this youthful hero are interpreted symbolically and allegorically. Thus, the highest fruition of bhakti is admission to the eternal sport of Krishna and his beloved Radha, whose sacred love story is explained as the mutual love between God and the human soul. Various gradations of bhakti are distinguished, such as awe, subservience, and parental affection. These are correlated with the persons of the Krishna legend; the highest and most intimate emotion is said to be the love of Radha and her girlfriends for Krishna.

A particularly rich Bengali tradition concentrated on the love of Radha, who symbolizes the human soul, for Krishna, the supreme god. In this tradition are CandidasChandidas, a 15th-century poet known for his love songs, and the Maithili poet Vidyapati (c. 1400). The single most influential figure, however, was Caitanya, who in the 16th century renewed Krishnaism. He left no writings but inspired many hagiographies, among the most important of which is the Caitanya-caritamrita (“Nectar of Caitanya’s Life”) by Krishna Das (born 1517).

Caitanya had a profound and lasting effect on the religious sentiments of the people of Bengal. He propagated the community celebration (sankirtana) of Krishna as the most powerful means of bringing about the proper bhakti attitude. Caitanya also introduced the worship of God, the director of the senses, through the very activity of the senses, which must be free from all egoism and completely filled with the intense desire (preman) for the satisfaction of the beloved (i.e., Krishna).

Another form of religious lyric are the so-called padas (verses). Govinda Das (1537–1612) is one of the greatest poets in this bhakti genre of poetry in which divine love is symbolized by human love. The songs of Ramprasad Sen (1718–75) similarly honour Shakti as mother of the universe and are still in wide devotional use.

The most famous religious lyrics in Gujarati are the poems of the saint Mira Bai (1503–73), who wrote passionate love poems to Krishna, whom she regarded as her husband and lover.The complex interaction between Sanskrit and non-Sanskrit religious classics may be seen in the development of the epics. Parts of the The two great Sanskrit epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, and many Puranas (especially the Bhagavata-purana) were translated into rendered in various vernaculars. These works were not literal translations but free versions in which the authors inserted their own emphases, which differed both from the original and from those of other authors. The oldest vernacular version of the Ramayana is the Tamil translation, the Iramavataram by Kampan (c. 12th century), a work of high literary distinction that is suffused with devotion (bhakti). A Telugu rendering was made by Ranganatha about 1300. Several translations in Bengali include some interesting and probably authentic variations from the “official” Rama story by Valmiki, the best-known translation being that of Krittibas Ojha (1450). Equally, if not more, famous is Ramcaritmanas (“Holy Lake of the Acts of Rama”).

The Mahabharata was translated into rendered in Bengali about 1600 and into Telugu by Nannaya and Tikkana in the 13th century. The Bhagavata-purana, which was translated frequently (e.g., into Bengali by Maladhar Vasu, 1480), was popular because it gave the canonical account of Krishna’s life and especially his boyhood, which is the perennial inspiration of the bhakti poets.

The teacher Jnanadeva (also known as Jnaneshvara; 1275–96) composed a commentary on the Bhagavadgita in Marathi that remains a classic in that literature. His work was continued by Eknath (c. 1600), who also composed bhakti poetry. In the 16th century the Kannada poet Gadugu produced a highly individual version of the Mahabharata. In addition to the literal or not-so-literal translations of the Sanskrit epics, the Tamils composed their own epics, notably Ilanko Atikal’s Cilappatikaram (“The Lay of the Anklet”) and its sequel, the Manimekhalai (“Jeweled Girdle”). In Telugu there is the great Palnadu epic; Rajasthani has an entire epic cycle about the hero Pabuji. The remaining vernaculars have also produced many epics of their own.

Much of the classical mythology persists today, and its stories have been conveyed to Hindus through traditional means as well as via the mass media. Mythic illustrations are remain favourites in Indian calendar art. Motion Television series and motion pictures called “mythological” are extremely popular, perpetuating the ancient stories, and so are “devotionals,” in which an example of bhakti is illustrated. The television series Ramayana, for example, was one of the biggest successes in the Indian media. Radio regularly carries bhajans (devotional songs) and classical South Indian songs, the themes of which are often mythic. Narratives from Hindu texts have also been portrayed in popular literature. Many stories became the bases for popular comic books in the 1960s and ’70s. An English-language series called Amar Chitra Katha (“Immortal Stories in Picture Form”), for example, was read by millions of people.

Every orthodox Hindu’s home has at least one corner set aside as a domestic sanctuary where representations of a chosen deity are placed, and puja (worship) is done with prayers, hymns, flowers, and incense. Richer establishments set aside entire rooms as shrines. Mythology has adjusted itself effortlessly to the modern world. The ashram of the 20th-century mystic and religious leader Shri Aurobindo in Pondicherry, dedicated to the Mother Goddess (personified by this group as a single principle), was an extremely modern establishment complete with tennis courts. New temples have been constructed with modern techniques; one temple in Varanasi (Banaras) contains mirrors onto which are etched the entire Ramcaritmanas. This same poem is the basis of the annual celebration of Ram Lila (the play of Rama) in northern India, in which the entire community participates. The story of Rama was evoked by Mahatma Gandhi when he set the Ram Raj (“Kingdom of Rama”) as India’s governmental ideal.

On occasion, social protesters have armed themselves with myth to make a point. For example, KarmaKarna, an antagonist in the Mahabharata who is berated for his low birth, has been extolled in intellectual circles as a truer champion than the aristocratic heroes. Anti-northern groups in Tamil Nadu revised the story of Rama, whose expedition against the demon Ravana is was believed by some to be the Aryan “Aryan” invasion of South India, by reversing it to abuse Rama and to glorify Ravana.

On a popular level, people at temples and fairs are continually reacquainted with their mythological heritage by pauranikas, tellers of the ancient stories and heirs of the sutas of 3,000 years ago, and no festival ground is complete without tents where the religious are reminded of their myths by pious speakers, modestly compensated by fees but richly rewarded by the honour in which they are held.

Practical Hinduism

Practical Hinduism is both a quest to achieve well-being and a set of strategies for locating sources of affliction and removing or appeasing them. Characterized in this way, it has much in common with the popular beliefs and practices of many other religions. For example, Roman Catholicism as practiced in many parts of Europe or Mahayana Buddhism in Korea and Taiwan involve, as does Hinduism, petitions and offerings to enshrined divine powers in order to engage their help with all manner of problems and desires. Thus, religions which could hardly differ more vastly in their understanding of the nature of divinity, reality, and causality may nonetheless converge at the level of popular piety.

The presumption that assigns “practical” Hinduism to peasants, labourers, or tribal peoples—while assuming that the high-born, wealthy, and educated would be concerned with spiritual enlightenment and Hinduism’s ultimate aim of liberation (moksha)—is false. Hindu farmers care about their souls at least as much as do Hindu business or professional men and women (if less single-mindedly than world renouncers, who come from all ranks of life). Farmers’ uncertain livelihoods, however, may influence them to dedicate more Almost all Hindus dedicate time and energy to rituals designed to obtain prosperity or to remove troubles, to bring rain to parched fields or to prevent damaging hailadvance their careers, to advance their children’s education and careers, or to protect their families from ill health. Although rural Hindus may have little time for meditative practices, they are fully aware of ultimate truths transcending the everyday. By the same token, the pious urban elite, if more likely to pursue spiritual disciplines, frequently sponsor worship in temples or homes to ensure worldly success. At all levels of the social hierarchy, Hinduism lives through artistic performances: dance and dance-drama, representational arts, poetry, music, and song serve not only to please deities but to transmit the religion’s meaningful narratives and vital truths. One could go so far as to say that it is through the various arts that most Hindu traditions have been transmitted through the millennia.

Both adherents of the faith and those who study it describe Hinduism as a way of life. Thus, they implicitly contrast Hinduism to religions that appear to be primarily located in spaces and times set apart from the everyday—such as “church on Sunday.” Although Hindus have magnificent sacred architecture and a vital tradition of calendrical festivals, the “way of life” description means that religious attitudes and acts permeate ordinary places, times, and activities. For example, bathing, dressing, cooking, eating, disposing of leftovers, and washing the dishes may all be subject to ritual prescriptions in Hindu households. Motivations for such ritualized actions are ascribed to considerations of purity—an purity and auspiciousness—an interest that is often linked to maintaining status in a hierarchical social system.

When Hindus interact with deities, considerations of purity may or may not be important. In some Vaishnava traditions, for example, one must remain in a relatively pure state in order to be fit to worship. A Brahman priest of a Krishna temple in the Vallabha sect might refuse food and water from the hands of non-Brahmans, not to show he is better than they are but because his work in the temple demands that he maintain such boundaries. Should he inadvertently lower his own ritual purity, he might displease or offend the deity with whom he is in regular contact, which could threaten human well-being in general.

Vaishnava traditions, however, include an alternative perspective that is conveyed in a well-known tale about Rama. This tale, frequently portrayed in poetry and art, tells of an outcaste tribal woman named Shabari who meets Rama in the forest. Her simple-hearted love for him is so great that she offers him wild berries, which are all she has. She bites each one first to test its sweetness before giving it to her lord, and in so doing she contaminates the berries with saliva, a major source of pollution. Although the berries are highly unacceptable according to the standards of ritual purity, Rama accepts them and eats them blissfully. The message is that the polluted offerings of a lowborn person given to God with a heart full of love are far more pleasing than any ritually pure gift from a less-devout being. Purity of heart, therefore, is more important than bodily purity.

The capacity to see both sides of most matters—cognitive flexibility rather than dogmatic fixity—is one of the most important characteristics of practical Hinduism, which lacks dogma altogether. In this regard, persistent continuities with Hinduism’s ancient roots in Vedic traditions can be discerned. The elaborate sacrificial rituals of Vedic religion have often been described as being focused on obtaining the goods of life—neatly summarized as prosperity, health, and progeny—from divine powers through exacting ritual behaviours. However, in the Upanishads, the last of the Vedic texts, voices emerge that care for neither the rituals nor their promised fruits but are concerned above all with learning the nature of ultimate reality and how the human soul may recognize that indescribable essence in itself. One quest never supplants the other. In Hinduism today there remains a vital creative tension betweenexists, on the one hand, faith in the efficacy of ritual and desire for its worldly fruits and, on the other, disregard for all external practices and material results. Farmers consistently deride the notion that sins are washed away in the waters of sacred rivers, yet they spend small fortunes to travel to and bathe in them.

Devotion

Devotion (bhakti) effectively spans and reconciles the seemingly disparate aims of obtaining aid in solving worldly problems and locating one’s soul in relation to divinity. It is the prime religious attitude in much of Hindu life. The term bhakti is derived from a root that literally means “having a share”; devotion unites without totally merging the identities of worshipers and deities. While some traditions of bhakti radically speak out against ritual, devotion in ordinary life is usually embedded in worship, vows, and pilgrimages—three major elements within practical Hinduism.

Theistic devotion presents itself as an easy path, obliterating the need for expensive sacrificial rituals, difficult ascetic practices, and scriptural knowledge. All of these are understood as restricted to high-caste males, and in practice specifically to the rich, the spiritually gifted, or the learned. But bhakti is for all human beings, regardless of their rank, gender, or talent. Any person’s chosen deity may help him obtain life’s rewards or avoid its disasters. At the same time, such a chosen deity may be the subject of pure, unmotivated devotional love, recollected in a few moments of morning meditation, in prayers uttered before a shrine, or in the lighting of incense.

Deities

As one Hindu author Sitansu Chakravarti helpfully explains in Hinduism: A Way of Life (1991),

Hinduism is a monotheistic religion which believes that God manifests Himself or Herself in several forms. One is supposed to worship the form that is most appealing to the individual without being disrespectful to other forms of worship.

Although the specific details of ritual action and the names and appearances of deities vary vastly across the subcontinent, commonalities in ritual structure and attitude override the great diversity of ritual practices and associated mythic tales. Whether offering soaked raw chickpeas to Shiva’s agent Bhairuji in Rajasthan, for example, or offering a buffalo goat to Draupadi in Tamil Nadu or water to Krishna’s devoted basil plant in the Goddess in Bengal, Hindus approach deities through similarly structured actions. These are just as pan-Hindu as the eternal Vedas or the three important deities—Shiva, Vishnu, and the Devi, whose forms and names vary widely but are nonetheless recognizable to Hindus throughout the world.

Ethnographies of rural Hindu practices reveal a wide variety of human relationships with multiple divine beings. These relationships are based not only on family and community affiliations but also on individual life experiences, so that individuals and families often develop idiosyncratic religiosities while remaining well within the range of normative patterns. A household of Gujars (a community associated with herding, dairy production, and agriculture) in a Rajasthani village presents one representative example. This family is particularly devoted to two deities from whom they believe they have received special blessings: Dev Narayan, a regional hero considered to be an avatar or incarnation of Vishnu, and Sundar Mata (“Beautiful Mother”), a local goddess, or village mother.

Dev Narayan is worshipped at multiple sites throughout Rajasthan. However, each of his shrines—in Puvali, in Banjari, and so forth—has its own identity. This particular family lives a short walk from Puvali’s Dev Narayan, but they believe that the more remote Banjari’s Dev Narayan—located near their ancestral home—has blessed two generations with long-awaited sons. They go weekly for darshan (divine vision of a deity’s image) to Puvali’s Dev Narayan, as it is convenient. But when the time comes to hold a major feast of thanksgiving to the deity who granted their prayers, they go to a great deal of extra trouble and added expense to hold this feast at the more remote place of Banjari. If questioned, the adults in this family would state conclusively that there is no difference between the two places and moreover that God is ultimately singular and to be found nowhere on the face of the earth but rather in one’s own body and heart. An everyday Hinduism embedded in materiality motivates the distinction between Banjari and Puvali, while a Hinduism that dissolves differences and seeks transcendent unity denies it. Most persons live their lives holding and moving between both these orientations.

Sundar Mata has only one place, on the edge of the Gujar family’s home village. She has helped them with various problems over the years. In times of trouble, devotees sometimes make inner vows to Sundar Mata (or any deity), no matter where they are. But to fulfill that vow, thankful persons must present themselves and their offerings in her particular place. Sundar Mata’s shrine, like most Hindu places of worship, accumulates gifts dedicated by grateful worshipers. For example, the largest iron trident at Sundar Mata’s shrine was offered by a migrant labourer who lost his suitcase on the train back from Delhi. He vowed to give his village goddess a huge trident if he got the bag back, which he miraculously did.

Although a local deity, Sundar Mata is related to pan-Hindu goddesses such as Lakshmi, Parvati, or Durga. They are all thought to be manifestations of a single goddess; name and form are ultimately not significant. Yet again it should be noted that human worshipers attach themselves to certain images and localities, and, for those devoted to Sundar Mata, not any goddess will do.

This family that honours Dev Narayan and Sundar Mata also worships lineage deities at home. Ritual attention to the spirits of deceased uncles and infants ensures their household’s well-being, and each domestic group takes similar care of loved ones who have died. Several members of the Gujar family portrayed here have taken a once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage as far as Haridwar in Uttar Pradesh, Gaya in south-central Bihar, and Puri in eastern Orissa. Mementos of these journeys—such as framed images of the sacred Ganges River’s descent to earth or the central icons from the temple of Puri in Orissa—are placed in their home shrine. Home shrines in general accumulate sacred objects and images eclectically. Images are treasured and are believed to manifest miraculous powers, but images are also understood to be lifeless and dispensable—another reflection of the Hindu genius for seeing both sides.

Worship

Worship, or puja, is the central action of practical Hinduism. Scholars describe Hindu worship as a preeminently transactional event; through worship, humans approach deities by respectful interactions with their powers. At every level, from elaborate temple rituals to simple home practice, worship consists of offerings made and blessings received; reverence is rendered and grace pours down. The purpose of many rituals is to promote auspiciousness (kalyana, mangala, shri)—a pervasive Hindu concept indicating all kinds of good fortune or well-being.

Ritual manuals in vernacular languages offer explicit instructions on exactly what should be offered and declare what benefits may be obtained through specific acts of worship. Benefits may be as general as health and prosperity or as specific as the removal of a particular illness. They also conventionally include rewards after death—thus uniting this-worldly and other-worldly blessings. Devotional songs and statements, however, persistently deny all mechanical views of divine exchanges, insisting that humans have nothing to give, that everything belongs to God, and that no truly religious action should ever be performed instrumentally. Thus, the key tension between external ritual and internal realization that originated in Vedic times and was perpetuated in devotional teachings is sustained in popular present-day ritual action.

One key element in all worship is prasadprasada, translated simply as “blessing” or “grace” and sometimes more literally as “blessed leftovers.” This term refers to the returned portion of a worshiper’s or pilgrim’s offering, which is understood as having value added by the intangible process of a deity’s consumption. PrasadPrasadato be used for offerings is hawked by vendors on the road to a temple, but this food does not truly become graced until it has been given as an offering and received back. Many foodstuffs are used as prasadprasada; bananas or other raw fruits and coconuts are particularly common, as are various candies and milk products. Fresh flowers are often included on an offering tray and may also be returned as prasadprasada. Other substances commonly distributed at temples include the water in which icons have been ritually bathed, called charanamrit (“foot nectar”), and the ash from burnt offerings. What all these have in common is contact with the deity’s power in the process of worship and service.

Another important element of temple worship is seeing the deity: darshan. Here again, a two-way but fundamentally unequal flow takes place. An image is always enlivened and given eyes; the worshiper’s delighted gaze at the deity engages the deity’s awareness of the worshiper, and a channel of grace is formed. Sound and scent also alert deities to humans in their presence. Ringing bells, blowing conch shells, singing or playing instrumental music, burning incense, and pouring clarified butter onto smoldering coals are among the activities intended to alert the deity of the devotee’s presence. Worshipers commonly prostrate themselves, symbolically offering respect and their own bodies. A circumambulation of the deity’s altar is another physical mode of engagement with divine power. Hindu worship is accurately described as involving all the senses.

Worship is by no means confined to temples. It may be performed at a home altar, a wayside shrine, or anywhere a devotee decides to mark off a sacred space. Actions at home may be far less elaborate than those at temples, more routinized as part of daily household life, and are performed without priestly expertise. South Indian housewives traditionally turn their thresholds into auspicious altars for the goddess each morning as they draw ritual designs, which are almost instantly trampled back into dust.

Conceptually distinct from worship yet often conflated with it is seva, or service. This refers to regular, respectful attentions to the needs of enshrined deities, or icons (murti). Service in many temples is twice daily or more often. At shrines it may involve bathing an icon, changing its ornaments, ringing bells, and waving lights before it (arati). In temples the person who does seva is normally a ritual expert, regularly present. Although seva is never done with an aim in mind, it is understood to keep the gods beneficently inclined, and flawed seva may cause trouble. Performing seva is good for the soul of the server.

Divination, spirit possession, and healing

Simple practices of divination are common to practical Hinduism. Everyone wants to know: Will my wish be fulfilled? Will my prayer be granted? The answers to such yes-no questions may be revealed by any of a number of practices. Plucking grains between thumb and finger from a pile and counting them to see if they add up to an auspicious number, pressing flowers to the wall and waiting for them to fall, and pouring clarified butter on coals and seeing if a flame rises up are common practices in more than one region of India.

A more elaborate mode of communicating with divine power is spirit possession, in which a human being, male or female, is thought to act as a vehicle for a deity’s mind and voice. This practice is also found in every geographic region where Hinduism flourishes. Although more common to rural areas, it is not absent from urban religion. A possessed priest or priestess is able to provide answers more complex than “yes” or “no.” A medium possessed by a deity may identify certain spirits of the dead who are troubling someone with symptoms of physical and mental illness. Usually these spirits are understood to cause trouble because they are not satisfied with the attention they are getting. The medium will prescribe ritual actions designed to transform the spirit from a source of affliction to a benevolent or neutral power or to send the spirit away. Purely malevolent beings, including jealous “witches” or nameless wandering ghosts, are cajoled, bullied, or even frightened into departure.

Practical Hinduism is greatly concerned with maintaining mental and physical health. Although a possessed priest occasionally forbids resort to doctors and their remedies, in the majority of cases healing rituals operate in conjunction with medicines, injections, and operations. Familial problems are often untangled with the help of a possessed priest in consultations sometimes likened by observers to group therapy.

Women’s religious practices

Women’s rituals comprise an important part of practical Hinduism. Some male-authored Hindu scriptures limit women’s religious roles, consider women more subject than men to bodily impurities, and subordinate them to their fathers and husbands. Priests in temples and other public spaces are predominantly—though not exclusively—male. Most domestic Hindu rituals, however, lie in the hands and hearts of women. Women perform their own seva and puja at permanent or temporary domestic shrines, are the chief ritual experts at many calendrical festivals, and are responsible for many ritual aspects of weddings and other life-cycle celebrations. Women more frequently than men undertake personal vows (vrata)—individually or collectively—to ensure the well-being of their families.

The elements of a vrata usually include a partial fast, simple worship in a domestic space temporarily purified for this purpose, and often the retelling of one or more stories honouring the deities and exemplifying the rewards or describing the origins of the ritual. The event may conclude with the consumption of special food to break the fast. Vows are often associated with calendrical cycles, whether solar, lunar, or both. For example, each day of the week is identified with a particular deity: Monday with Shiva, Tuesday with Hanuman, Wednesday with Ganesha, and so forth. If a woman undertakes a Monday vrata, she will fast and worship Shiva and tell his story every Monday. Or, a person may do an eleventh vrata, a vow for the eleventh day of the lunar calendar, which would come twice a month in the waxing and waning halves of the moon. Some vows are undertaken for the occasional potent convergence of both calendrical systems, such as somavati amavasa, a Monday dark moon.

Women’s ritually performed stories feature heroines who may be devotees of the deity being honoured, daughters of female devotees, or persons ignorant of that particular deity who then learn about its power and blessings in the course of severe tribulations. Notably, the heroines of women’s devotional stories exemplify moral virtues, ritual knowledge, devotional fervour, and transformative agency. The power accumulated by women through their ritual actions should never be used exclusively for their own well-being. Selflessness is a very important virtue that is exemplified by self-denial in fasting. Nonetheless, because women’s well- being is connected to familial well-being, women see their rituals as productive of better circumstances for themselves and their loved ones. For women, practical Hinduism is a space where they express their competence, self-respect, and power and see themselves as protectors of husbands, brothers, and sons. Even while critiquing the ways in which some Hindu traditions disadvantage women, Indian feminists have located important resources for women in goddess worship, in vrata narratives, and in the sense of gender solidarity and self-worth that women’s rituals produce.

Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage in Hinduism, as in other religions, is the practice of journeying to sites where religious powers, knowledge, or experience are deemed especially accessible. Hindu pilgrimage is rooted in ancient scriptures. According to textual scholars, the earliest reference to Hindu pilgrimage is in the Rigveda (c. 1500 BCE), in which the “wanderer” is praised. Numerous later texts, including the epic Mahabharata (c. 300 BCE–300 CE) and several of the mythological Puranas (c. 300–750 CE), elaborate on the capacities of particular sacred sites to grant boons, such as health, wealth, progeny, and deliverance after death. Texts enjoin Hindu pilgrims to perform rites on behalf of ancestors and recently deceased kin. Sanskrit sources as well as devotional literature in regional vernacular languages praise certain places and their miraculous capacities.

Pilgrimage has been increasingly popular since the 20th century, facilitated by ever-improving transportation. Movement over actual distance is critical to pilgrimage, for what is important is not just visiting a sacred space but leaving home. Most pilgrimage centres hold periodic religious fairs called melas to mark auspicious astrological moments or important anniversaries. In 2001, for example, the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad was attended during a six-week period by tens of millions of pilgrims.

Because of shared elements in rituals, a pilgrim from western Rajasthan does not feel alienated in the eastern pilgrimage town of Puri, even though the spoken language, the landscape and climate, the deities’ names and appearances, and the food offerings are markedly different from those the pilgrim knows at home. Moreover, pilgrimage works to propagate practices among diverse regions because stories and tales of effective and attractive ritual acts circulate along with pilgrims.

Pilgrimage sites are often located in spots of great natural beauty thought to be pleasing to deities as well as humans. Environmental activists draw on the mythology of the sacred landscapes to inspire Hindu populations to adopt sustainable environmental practices. The Sanskrit and Hindi word for pilgrimage centre is tirtha, literally a river ford or crossing place. The concept of a ford is associated with pilgrimage centres not simply because many are on riverbanks but because they are metaphorically places for transition, either to the other side of particular worldly troubles or beyond the endless cycle of birth and death.